Implementation of the enhanced Organized Bus Route (OBR) System using the Radio frequency identification (RFID) Technology to track and efficiently control the travel of around 2,664 city buses within Metro Manila using wireless technology, thus decongesting the major thoroughfares in the metropolis.

Enhanced the monitoring and provision of emergency assistance. Being operated at the MMDA Communication and Command Center in Guadalupe, Makati City, the Surveillance Camera System monitors not only traffic conditions but the general situation and other important public concerns through strategically installed CCTV cameras within the metropolis.

The Administration also improved the country’s competitive advantage in information and communications technology (ICT), which resulted to the robust economic activities in the ICT industry with gross revenue of US$17.934 Billion and total employment for 371,965 individuals from 2004 to 2008.

• Centers of information technology and business processing outsourcing (IT-BPO) services all around the country have been connected. Aside from Metro Manila and Metro Cebu which have already been considered as “ICT Centers of Excellence”, the Administration has been promoting the top 10 “Next Wave Cities” to be the destinations of ICT industry outside Metro Manila and Metro Cebu:

o Removed barriers and allow full competition in the provision of high-speed networks and connectivity. This resulted in the reduction of cost of local internet connections from PhP30 per hour in 2000 to PhP15 per hour in 2008.

o Liberalized the telecommunications environment/ industry to allow the entry of more players, ie, the telecommunication operators (TelCos).

This enabled the mobile telephone industry to experience robust growth. About 62% of the total populace (or about 56 million out of the 88 million Filipinos) are now mobile telephone subscribers who are connected to 14,506 cell sites, nationwide, as of end of 2008. To date, there are 11 international gateway facility (IGF) operators who can provide international long distance calls; six (6) cellular mobile telephone system operators; 11 public trunk radio operators; 14 inter-exchange carrier licenses that service other carriers’ traffic using their own networks; and, 74 local exchange operators or those with fixed line services. o Authorized the retail-pricing for local telephone lines by allowing local exchange carriers to design price packages.

2. Business Process Outsourcing

The Arroyo Administration’s strategic foresight of using information technology to advantage early on, built the necessary physical and regulatory infrastructure that enabled the Services Sector particularly the Philippine Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, to become one of the main economic growth drivers of the country. The growth in the BPO also improved the country’s Balance of Payments (BOP) and investments. The BPO sector has been growing through the years. The total number of full-time employees rose to 371,965 in 2008 more than triple the 2004 number of 100,500 full-time employees. BPO revenues skyrocketed as the industry expanded. From US$1.5 billion in 2004 it grew more than three times to US$6.1 billion in 2008. The Philippine BPO sector caters to varied support services functions. The rise of Animation, Software Development and Medical Transcription in 2003 became an addition to promising BPO investments that were portrayed in the succeeding years. It marked the rise of digital servicing, niche service operations and marketing using information technology. Later on, outsourcing services were popularized in the following support service functions, namely: (1) Human Resources such as recruitment and payroll; (2) Customer Service and helpdesk functions; (3) Procurement and materials management; (4) proof reading and editing; and (5) layout and design. Among the top contact centers in the country are Sykes, Convergys, Ambergis, and People Support. Some of the companies that have set-up internal BPO operations in the country include HSBC, AIG Business Processing Services, Chevron Texaco, Procter and Gamble Asia Pt. Ltd., Shell Shared Services, among others.

3. Financial SystemThe purposeful financial reforms in the past enabled the Philippine financial system to weather the global financial storm. The BSP strengthened its financial supervision and regulation particularly through the alignment of accounting practices with international standards, the enhancement of risk management systems, and strengthening bank capitalization.

1. Capital Adequacy Ratio. From 2001-2008, the average capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of banks remained above the BSP minimum requirement. The CAR, which indicates the overall health and condition of the banking sector, is the proportion of a bank’s capital to its risks. This helps ensure that banks have enough capacity to absorb a reasonable amount of loss and that they are complying with their statutory capital requirements as mandated by the BSP. It is also an indicator that banks are well-capitalized.

The average CAR of Universal Banks (UBs) and Commercial Banks (KBs) was at 17.2% from 2001 to 2007, way above the BSP minimum requirement of 10%. As of December 2008, CAR is at 15.7%, slightly lower than the 15.9% CAR during the same period in 2007.

2. Non-Performing Loans. From 2001-2009, Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) have been steadily declining. NPL is an indicator of financial soundness, expressing banks’ exposure to bad debts. Non-performing only means that payments of interest and principal have remained unpaid for 30 days or more. NPLs in UBs and KBs have been steadily declining. In 2001, NPL was at PhP281.9 billion (17.3% of total loans), decreasing to PhP88.2 billion in 2008 (3.5% of total loans). As of March 2009, NPL is PhP88.6 billion (3.6% of total loans) lower than the March 2008 NPL of PhP96.4 billion (4.5% of total loans).

3. Domestic Liquidity. Domestic liquidity, or M3, recorded double-digit growth rate of 15.6% in December 2008. The increase in the domestic liquidity was fueled by strong growth in both the net domestic assets (NDA) and the net foreign assets (NFA). Both credit extended to the private and public sectors grew by 16.8% and 18.2%, respectively, in 2008. Further, domestic liquidity continued to grow in by 15.0% last May 2009. An appropriate level of liquidity only means that there is a proper functioning of the financial system and can help support economic growth, while keeping guard against any build-up in price pressures.

4. Interest Rates. Reverse repurchase rates (RRP) decreased from 9.72% in 2001 to 5.44% in 2008 to keep inflation within the government’s target ranges. Recently (July 4, 2009 release), RRR were further reduced by 25 basis points to 4%. Given prevailing downside pressures on prices and output, the reduction in policy rates will support economic activity as banks are expected to pass on the lower borrowing costs to clients.

5. Legislative Measures. The following were vital legislations which strengthened the Philippine financial system:

. RA 9182 as amended by RA 9343 - Special Purpose Vehicle Act (2002 and 2006). The Special Purpose Vehicle Act facilitated the cleaning of bad assets in the banking system. . RA 9505 - Personal Equity Retirement Account (PERA) Law (2008). RA 9505 was passed to improve the country’s saving rates by allowing the creation of tax-free personal retirement accounts. . RA 9510 - Credit Information System Act (2008). RA 9510 is designed to help boost bank lending by enhancing the availability of credit to small borrowers. . RA 9576 (2009). RA 9576 increased the insurance coverage for deposits to PhP500,000 from PhP250,000 in order to protect depositors.

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis provided some hard and painful lessons for emerging economies like the Philippines which resulted in its banks not having been substantially affected by the global economic crisis due to their: (1) very limited exposure to subprime and other structured and sustained securitized products; (2) relatively stronger balance sheets and profitability; (3) improved risk and liquidity management frameworks; (4) placement under strengthened supervisory and regulatory systems; and (5) exploration of other profitable business lines such as consumer lending, which arrested the strong search for yields common among financial institutions in advanced economies.

6. Inflation and Prices. Under the Arroyo Administration, inflation remained in single digits, ensuring stable prices to benefit consumers. Factors like the strong peso and improved agricultural production as well as sound monetary policy contributed to the slowdown of inflation from 2001-2008, notwithstanding the volatility of world food and oil prices that put upward pressure on inflation in 2008. Inflation eased from 6.8% in 2001 to 2.8% in 2007. The 2007 inflation rate is well below the 4.0-5.0% target range for 2007 and the lowest annual average in 21 years. Inflation was kept in single digits in 2008 at an average of 9.3%. Inflation rate improved in 2009, at a lower 5% average from January to June 2009, or almost back to its 2007 level. In light of the global crisis, the BSP was quick to provide liquidity to boost spending and investment and support market confidence. However, it remained committed to price stability and inflation was still well contained in June 2009, dropping to 1.5% from 3.3% in May, the lowest in more than 22 years. From 2001 to 2009, the Arroyo Administration undertook intensive price monitoring activities and regular market visits. Strict enforcement of the Price Tag Law and Price Act were pursued to ensure availability of basic necessities to consumers at reasonable prices, keeping prices low. Meetings and dialogues with industry associations, manufacturers and retailers were continuously conducted.

7. Markets. The strong economic fundamentals achieved by the Arroyo Administration through its economic reforms had a strong positive impact on the Philippine Markets as these improved investor climate and brought confidence in the peso and the Philippine stock market.

The continued foreign exchange inflows from OFW Remittances, export earnings, and overall positive market sentiment enabled the strong performance of the peso in the past years. The peso appreciated by 9.5% from an average of PhP50.99/US$ in 2001 to PhP46.15/US$ in 2007. Although the peso fell in 2008, the peso remains strong and has averaged at P47.8160/US$ for the first half of 2009. In 2008 to the first half of 2009, investor concerns about a slowing global economy resulted to risk aversion and the decreasing value of the peso. However, due to the stored value of the peso from the previous 6 years, the peso value was not substantially diminished. As a result of an improved fiscal condition, declining inflation and a strong peso, investor confidence in the economy was renewed, resulting into positive reactions from investors and the financial market. The Philippine Stock Market Composite Index (Phisix) increased from 1168.1 index points in 2001 to 2587.4 index points in 2008.

•Removed barriers and allow full competition in the provision of high-speed networks and connectivity. This resulted in the reduction of cost of local internet connections from PhP30 per hour in 2000 to PhP15 per hour in 2008.

•Liberalized the telecommunications environment/ industry to allow the entry of more players, ie, the telecommunication operators (TelCos). This enabled the mobile telephone industry to experience robust growth. About 62% of the total populace (or about 56 million out of the 88 million Filipinos) are now mobile telephone subscribers who are connected to 14,506 cell sites, nationwide, as of end of 2008. To date, there are 11 international gateway facility (IGF) operators who can provide international long distance calls; six (6) cellular mobile telephone system operators; 11 public trunk radio operators; 14 inter-exchange carrier licenses that service other carriers’ traffic using their own networks; and, 74 local exchange operators or those with fixed line services.

•Authorized the retail-pricing for local telephone lines by allowing local exchange carriers to design price packages.

COMMENT: The policies mentioned above greatly helped to speed-up the development of ICT in the Philippines. They allowed competition among different providers which lead to the reduction of services prices and the continuing development in their services. The liberalization of the telecommunication environment not only helped the IT industry in terms of the positive effects of business rivalries but also gave way to the founding of new companies that ventured in this field of business thus giving more spurces of advancement/ideas to imrpove the quality of ICT in the Philippines. Furthermore, it also benefits the jobless; giving them more chances to find one.

2. Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

•To lessen the impact of climate change, the President issued Executive Order 320 s. 2004, creating a National Authority for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and designating DENR as the national authority for CDM. To date, the Philippines has 20 projects registered with the United Nations CDM Executive Board in Bonn, Germany. These projects consists of renewable energy projects (wind power, hydropower, geothermal energy) and energy efficiency projects like, methane recovery for electricity generation, wastes to power generation (hog wastes, rice husks). The projects are expected to cut the emission of about 731,611 tons of carbon dioxide per year. At present, the Philippines is one of the top eight countries that have the most number of CDM projects for greenhouse gas emission reduction.

•In view of alarming developments and forecasts on global warming and climate change, especially for the Philippines which has been identified as among the most vulnerable to its effects, the President created the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC) thru AO 171, s. 2007, “to act with resolve and urgency in addressing the issue of climate change, mitigate its impact and adapt to its effects”.

•To rationalize and synthesize all government programs into one focused campaign that would effectively address climate change, EO 774 s. 2008 was issued, reorganizing the PTFCC with the President as Chair, and mandating the creation of 14 task groups, tasked to work from all fronts to ensure the “CPR” – conservation, protection and restoration -- of Philippine natural resources.

COMMENT: We may not find this project as something related to ICT but if we look on it closely. The IT industry is also a grate source of environmental pollution. Through this action, the government took a step in lessening the negative backfires of technology thus allowing the IT industry to further develop and boost to improve to offer us more positive effects in our society.

3. Cyber Corridor

The Cyber Corridor, which aims to create an information and technology-based knowledge economy through facilities that enhance interconnectivity and research and development initiatives, traverses all four geographic super regions from Baguio to Cebu to Davao.

•The Cyber Corridor is being developed through public and private investments in the areas of ICT, education, and training.The pilot-testing of a major ICT project, the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) Revenue Watch Dashboard prototype system, was completed in May 2009. This web-enabled revenue monitoring tool aims to provide real time collection figures from the national level down to the Revenue District Office level.

•Aside from the priority infrastructure projects in the Cyber Corridor, the Government also pursued other Information and Communication Technology-related projects that supported the development theme of the Cyber Corridor. The Government has established public calling stations, telecenters and community e-centers to address the uneven distribution of fixed telephone lines in the regions.

•By 2008, the Administration has installed facilities to areas without communication channels yet, such as 875 telegraph stations for telegraphic transfer and social telegram; digital telephone exchanges in 103 localities; 538 public calling stations which serves people who cannot afford to subscribe telephone services and areas not covered by fixed line facilities; 1,422 Telepono sa Barangay (TSB) stations; and a Regional Government Telephone Service in Cauayan, Isabela.

COMMENT: This project is a sort of implementation of the current trends in communication technologies. This will benefit the ICT industry because this project will give us a greater view on the positive effects of advance communication technologies implemented to the different services that the government offers. Through the benefits that will be visible sooner or later, the development of ICT in the Philippines will be pushed through with more vigilance.

Query: On the assumption that you heard/read the SONA of the President last month (July 2009), Identify at least three areas related to ICT and identify how these areas can improve our quality of life.

Retort:

THE PRESIDENT'SSONA 2009

As we Qouted:"Today the Philippines is weathering well the storm that is ragingaround the world. It is growing stronger with the challenge. When theweather clears, as it will, there is no telling how much fartherforward it can go. Believe in it. I believe…"

;what is ICT??--Information and communication technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term that covers all advanced technologies in manipulating and communicating information. The term is sometimes used in preference to Information Technology (IT), particularly on these two communities: education and government.

Ang sa akin lang:-Telecommunications in the Philippines has always been tough and strong in helping the growth and development of the economical conditions specially in modernization and in technology. In the previous months there came the outrage in the news about lost loads and promotional text messeges, ring tones, picture messages etc. that dropped off loads abruptly.Even officials in the senate officials like Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile in may times experienced that. Frankly, we are making and helping those big Telecommunication Companies boom like their taking bath with our money when we are availing cellphone loads from them and yet they are not contented, ninanakaw pa nila mga load natin.Thanks to the President when she said she will do something in that matter.right noW! she meant that.I am a student who needs to load my cellphone everytime. It's not explainable.. everybody loads!because now a days we need an instant communication because we are logical and rational enaough to make use of that availability.-By all means of possibility, when the Telecommmunication Commission has done the proper solution to this matter..probably all the people in the philippines will be happy and will be satisfied in all the services they are availng in all telecommunication companies.We cannot deny the fact that using our cellphones[with loads of course] is also the key and the big feet in every businesses,students,vendors and everybody and it is big part of our suCcess every step on the way, triumph and victory! MABUHAY! -therefore i conclude, having a cellphone load that are not vanishing in the Inappropriate expiration date can truely improve our quality of life!..

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

2. BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) PhilippinesQuoted: "Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creatingwealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional enginesof growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall inaccordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remainsresilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, theBPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness andproductivity. Let us have a Department of ICT…."

reference:http://bpo.box.com.ph/

-The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) indusrty is booming in thePhilippines. The most common BPO services here in the country are callcenters, software development, transcription, encoding, animation,human resources, accounting and payroll outsourcing.BPO is implemented as a cost-saving measure for tasks that a companyrequires but does not depend upon to maintain its position in themarketplace.There are also a lot of new BPO opportunities, aside from the mostcommon BPO services mentioned above, that we, as Filipinos, can embarkon. Outsourced writing is one.Philippines named 2nd top BPO destination in Asia-Pacific

The City of Manila has been named the second top Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)destination in the Asia-Pacific region by the International DataCorporation (IDC), just three months after the Philippines was named asthe ‘Offshoring Destination of the Year‘ by the United Kingdom’s National Outsourcing Association last October.In the IDC list, Manila was ranked no. 2, second only to Bangalore, India.Three other Philippine cities have been included by the London Financial Times in the survey of ‘Top Ten Asian Cities of the Future‘, thus validating the country’s position as a major player in the global offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) market.Quezon City ranked 7th, Cebu 8th and Davao 10th in the surveycommissioned by the London Times, comparable with cities like Hongkong,Singapore and Taipei which were the top three.President Gloria-Macapagal-Arroyo announced that her administrationhas targeted a 40% growth rate in the country’s O&O sector for thisyear and 40% growth target in the workforce “in order to cope with theindustry demands”.“These distinctions from the O&O sector and global ICT firmsprovide our investor friends, who have come to E-services Philippines,with objective third party assessments of our O&O capabilities,”the President stressed.According to the President, the runaway growth of the O&Oindustry has echoed throughout the entire system, spawning impressivegrowth on other sectors like real estate, telecommunications, food andretail among others.

Ang sa akin lang:-This is a very big proof that these are right here will definitely help improve our quality of livingSEE? there many job opportunities waiting for each Filipinos such as this:callcenters, software development, transcription, encoding, animation,human resources, accounting and payroll outsourcing.-THanks to our very own President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that somehow she is dong her job as the leader of our mother nation.Thank you maam!MABYHAY! -Congratulations to all of us! therefore i conclude, MORE JOB OPPORTUNITIES, MORE LIVES WILL GET BETTER! probably, Progress is at stake!GET It GOING!

Ang sa akin lang:-This ACts really hepl improve the Quality of our living.IT simply shows..as we read those written Biofuel Act and REnewable Energu act.It's a very big hand to the Filipinos in the country especially those 'maralita at mga ordinaryong tao lalong lalo na ang mga kakabayan nating mga Magsasaka'It is very practical and helpful especialy to the Ecosystem, through that we are not just helping our fellow filipinos but most of all we are preserving our mother nature which is our sourse of natural and raw materials in our idustries.MABUHAY!

With this statement, Arroyo has promised to strictly amend and provide a law for the complaints about the missing load of Filipino people. And we all know that as of now, it is already practiced by some telecommunication companies of having a promo of a long expiring load and stopping of spammers to send spam text messages on anybody’s cell phone numbers.

“MANILA, Philippines - Prepaid credits of mobile phones – popularly known as “load" – will now have longer expiration dates after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued new rules on Friday.

Under Memorandum Circular No. 03-07-2009, loads with higher values will have longer expiration or validity periods, the NTC said.

Credits worth P10 or lower will be valid for three days from the previous one-day expiration. Loads more than P10 up to P50 can be used for 15 days while credits worth more than P50 up to P100 will remain valid for 30 days.

Loads more than P100 to P150 will expire at the end of 45 days while credits of more than P150 to P250 will last for 60 days. More than P250 to P300 will remain valid for 75 days while credits worth more than P300 will last for 120 days.”

http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/2069255.aspx

2. “Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT….”

Yes it is true that BPO or Business Process Outsourcing can really help a lot on our economy’s growth. And with that idea of having an ICT Department, it would be surely a big help to all IT people specially us students for the improvement of our country’s technology.

3. “I have accepted the invitation of President Obama to be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet him at the White House, this week….

That he sought us the Philippines testifies to our strong and deep ties….

High on our agenda will be peace and security issues. Terrorism: how to meet it, how to end it, how to address its roots in injustice and prejudice—and most and always how to protect lives….

We will also discuss nuclear non-proliferation. The Philippines will chair the review of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation Treaty in New York in May 2010. The success of the talks will be a major diplomatic achievement for us….”

We all know that terrorism is one of the toughest issues on earth nowadays. And because of that, we should be very thankful if Arroyo could find a way to stop terrorism with the help also of the USA of course.

4. “In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress….”

Yes, the May 2010 automated elections is already imposed and it would be hard on the part on Filipino people who never knew how to operate computer though it is easy to learn and it can speed-up the result of the upcoming election.

I’m sure that Arroyo’s statements above would make our country better in field of ICT but we are already used of government people who are already good on speaking but never better on implementing those.

Subject: On the assumption that you heard/read the SONA of the President last month, (July 2000), identify at least 3 areas related to ICT and identify how these areas can improve our quality of life. Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:46 am

On the assumption that you heard/read the SONA of the President last month, (July 2000), identify at least 3 areas related to ICT and identify how these areas can improve our quality of life.

What is ICT?ICT or Information and Communications Technology was created by President Gloria Arroyo

History:In the year 2000, President Joseph Estrada formed the Information Technology and E-Commerce Council, which merged the powers and functions of the National Information Technology Council and the Electronic Commerce Promotion Council. Four years later, President Gloria Arroyo would abolish ITECC and create the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), We really need a department that will handle the offshoring sector as well as other legislation such as the cybercrime bill and the data privacy bill.

On the assumption that I heard/read the SONA of the President, I identify at 4 areas related to ICT and also I identify how these areas can improve our quality of life.

1. CREATING WEALTH BY DEVELOPING THE BPO AND TOURISM SECTORS AS ADDITIONAL ENGINES OF GROWTH The President said in her SONA:Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. “With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT.”

2. TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION The President said in her SONA:Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cell phone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now. Addressing to the National Telecommunications Commission to act on complaints against dropped calls and lost cellphone load. “We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now.”

3. CREATION OF DICT (DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY)The President said in her SONA:Pres. Gloria Arroyo on Monday made a final push for the creation of DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) in her last State of the Nation Address (Sona). Let us have a Department of ICT. Philippines is now starting to create wealth with the development of the BPO industry as an engine of growth.

4. VOTING!The President said in her SONA:As the seeds of fundamental political reform are planted, let us address the highest exercise of democracy - voting!In her 9th State of the Nation Address, Mrs. Arroyo cited the role of the BPO and tourism sectors as engines of growth in the country. She noted that while electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy, the BPO sector has remained resilient and continues to grow.Currently the country has recorded a $4.8 billion market share of outsourcing operations employing a total of 650,000 workers. IT stakeholders from Davao will be having a summit which will prepare an roadmap that will include a short to medium term plan for Davao's IT industry. Currently Davao is ranked the 4th most preferred investment destination for Business Process Outsourcing companies from a study prepared by the CICT. Presently BPO operations in the City, are growing despite the ongoing global recession, it currently is employing 6,000 workers locally, with job demand steadily growing as several big-ticket BPO players are expanding operations while others are moving in to the City with the opening of the Ayala and Robinson IT parks. Fournier said that Government's policy towards IT has contributed to the growth of the sector particularly CICT which he said is actively moving to develop the industry. Recently President Arroyo was cited by the Contact Center Association of the Philippines for her support to the industry among the concrete government initiatives cited by the group include PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) incentives, CICT (Commission on Information and Communications Technology) formation and the P50-million PGMA scholarship fund for call center training.

*Creation of DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology)

“Let us have a department of ICT (DICT)!” - Speaking over a live nationwide TV broadcast at the House of Representatives, president Macapagal-Arroyo directly dedicated her message to congressmen, for the country to finally have a DICT. It is a development that has long been clamored for in the past seven years.

HOW WOULD IT HELP? Computers ... The Internet ... Digital broadcasting ... Mobile phones ... e-Government ... Employment ... Telemedicine ... Online learning ... e-Commerce ... Entertainment ... Cyberwar ... Information and communication technologies are now a crucial part of modern life. Almost everyone is affected by them, directly or indirectly.The ICT Group teaches and researches many aspects of these technologies. We aim to foster knowledge and understanding of ICTs among Open University students and in the wider community. The Group also encourages critical thinking about the use of ICTs and about their place in society.Follow the links to find out more about our courses (from microprocessor architecture to digital communications) and our Research and scholarship (from robotics to community web portals).The Information & Communication Technologies Group is one of three academic groups within the Communication and Systems Department.

MissionTo develop the country as a world-class ICT services provider, provide government services to stakeholders online, provide affordable Internet access to all segments of the population, develop an ICT enabled workforce, and create an enabling legal and regulatory environment.

VisionePhilippines an electronically enabled society where the citizens live in an environment that wil encourage and promote the access to technologies providing quality education, efficient government service, greater sources of livelihoood, and, ultimately, a better way of life.

MandateThe Commission shall be the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, regulating, and administrative entity of the executive branch of Government that will promote, develop, and regulate integrated and strategic ICT systems and reliable and cost-efficient communication facilities and services. In fulfilling its mandate, the Commission shall be guided by the following policies:

1. To ensure the provision of strategic, reliable and cost-efficient information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, systems and resources as instruments for nation-building and global competitiveness;

2. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is defined as the totality of electronic means to collect, store, process and present information to end-users in support of their activities. It consists, among others, of computer systems, office systems and consumer electronics, as well as networked information infrastructure, the components of which include the telephone system, the Internet, fax machines and computers.

3. To ensure a policy and legal environment that will promote a level playing field, partnerships between the public and the private sectors, strategic alliances with foreign investors, balanced investments between high-growth and economically-depressed areas, and broader private sector participation in ICT development;

4. To foster and accelerate convergence of ICT facilities such as but not limited to the development of networks;

5. To ensure universal access and high-speed connectivity at fair and reasonable cost;

6. To ensure the provision of information and communication services in areas not adequately served by the private sector;

7. To foster the widespread use and application of emerging ICT;

8. To establish a strong and effective regulatory system that will ensure consumer protection and welfare and foster a healthy competitive environment;

9. To promote the development of ICT expertise in the countrys human capital to enable Filipinos to compete in a fast-evolving information and communication age; To ensure the growth of the ICT industries;

10. To preserve the rights of individuals to privacy and confidentiality of their personal information;

11. To encourage the use of ICT in support of efforts for the development and promotion of the countrys arts and culture, history, education, public health and safety, and other socio-civic purposes;

12. To sustain the development of the nationwide postal system as an integral component of the overall development of ICT in the country.

* Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector

“In the past if the electronics sector grew, today we’re creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth,” Macapagal-Arroyo said. “Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall with the state of the world economy but BPO remains resilient.”

- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is ushering the economy into a sustained growth as it is projected to employ close to one million and post 13 billion dollars revenue by next year.In an interview over CNBC’s Closing Bell program hosted by noted business anchor Maria Bartiromo, President Arroyo said that the BPO sector, among other industries, has exhibited a stunning performance and must have been helping enable the country to effectively manage the global financial crisis that has been hounding many countries.There are a number of industries that nobody ever thought before would become drivers of growth, for instance, the business process outsourcing industry.

HOW WOULD IT HELP? BPO is distinct from information technology (IT) outsourcing, which focuses on hiring a third-party company or service provider to do IT-related activities, such as application management and application development, data center operations, or testing and quality assurance.In the early days, BPO usually consisted of outsourcing processes such as payroll. Then it grew to include employee benefits management. Now it encompasses a number of functions that are considered "non-core" to the primary business strategy.Now it is common for organizations to outsource financial and administration (F&A) processes, human resources (HR) functions, call center and customer service activities and accounting and payroll.These outsourcing deals frequently involve multi-year contracts that can run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Often, the people performing the work internally for the client firm are transferred and become employees for the service provider. Dominant outsourcing service providers in the BPO fields (some of which also dominate the IT outsourcing business) include US companies IBM, Accenture, and Hewitt Associates, as well as European and Asian companies Capgemini, Genpact, TCS, Wipro and Infosys.Many of these BPO efforts involve offshoring -- hiring a company based in another country -- to do the work. India is a popular location for BPO activities.Frequently, BPO is also referred to as ITES -- information technology-enabled services. Since most business processes include some form of automation, IT "enables" these services to be performed.An offshoot of BPO is KPO -- knowledge process outsourcing. Considered by some to be a subset of BPO, KPO includes those activities that require greater skill, knowledge, education and expertise to handle. For example, whereas an insurance company might outsource data entry of its claims forms as part of a BPO initiative, it may also choose to use a KPO service provider to evaluate new insurance applications based on a set of criteria or business rules; this work would require the efforts of a more knowledgeable set of workers than the data entry would. The current definition of KPO encompasses R&D, product development and legal e-discovery, as well as a number of other business functions.Also coming into use is the term BTO -- business transformation outsourcing. This refers to the idea of having service providers contribute to the effort of transforming a business into a leaner, more dynamic, agile and flexible operation.

One of the most important advantages of BPO is the way in which it helps to increase a company’s flexibility. However, several sources have different ways in which they perceive organizational flexibility. Therefore business process outsourcing enhances the flexibility of an organization in different ways.

Most services provided by BPO vendors are offered on a fee-for-service basis. This helps a company becoming more flexible by transforming fixed into variable costs. A variable cost structure helps a company responding to changes in required capacity and does not require a company to invest in assets, thereby making the company more flexible. Outsourcing may provide a firm with increased flexibility in its resource management and may reduce response times to major environmental changes.

Another way in which BPO contributes to a company’s flexibility is that a company is able to focus on its core competencies, without being burdened by the demands of bureaucratic restraints. Key employees are herewith released from performing non-core or administrative processes and can invest more time and energy in building the firm’s core businesses.The key lies in knowing which of the main value drivers to focus on – customer intimacy, product leadership, or operational excellence. Focusing more on one of these drivers may help a company create a competitive edge.

A third way in which BPO increases organizational flexibility is by increasing the speed of business processes. Using techniques such as linear programming can reduce cycle time and inventory levels, which can increase efficiency and cut costs. Supply chain management with the effective use of supply chain partners and business process outsourcing increases the speed of several business processes, such as the throughput in the case of a manufacturing company.

Finally, flexibility is seen as a stage in the organizational life cycle. BPO helped to transform Nortel from a bureaucratic organization into a very agile competitor. A company can gain the advantage of maintaining ambitious growth goals while sidestepping standard business bottlenecks. BPO therefore allows firms to retain their entrepreneurial speed and agility, which they would otherwise sacrifice in order to become efficient as they expanded. It avoids a premature internal transition from its informal entrepreneurial phase to a more bureaucratic mode of operation.A company may be able to grow at a faster pace as it will be less constrained by large capital expenditures for people or equipment that may take years to amortize, may become outdated or turn out to be a poor match for the company over time.

Although the above-mentioned arguments favor the view that BPO increases the flexibility of organizations, management needs to be careful with the implementation of it as there are a few stumbling blocks, which could counter these advantages. Among problems, which arise in practice are: A failure to meet service levels, unclear contractual issues, changing requirements and unforeseen charges, and a dependence on the BPO which reduces flexibility. Consequently, these challenges need to be considered before a company decides to engage in business process outsourcing.

A further issue is that in many cases there is little that differentiates the BPO providers other than size. They often provide similar services, have similar geographic footprints, leverage similar technology stacks, and have similar Quality Improvement approaches.

*Telecommunications Commission

“I am asking the national telecommunications commission to take action on calls against missing cellphone loads,” she said in Filipino.

- The president also included in her SONA that her administration is now taking action on calls against telecommunications firms about the missing cellphone loads of subscribers.

MANILA, Philippines -- Malacañang admitted that the 50-centavo text messages announced by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) is a promotion of telecommunication companies (telcos) but maintained that government’s “moral suasion” was partly responsible for the reduced charges.

And Press Secretary Jesus Dureza stressed on Wednesday that even before the telcos' promotion, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) had already issued a memorandum to the firms to lower their interconnection charge for the use of the short messaging service (SMS) to 15 centavos.

”The government, in order to provide relief to the millions of texters, did moral suasion, because we can’t intervene because it’s private business. But because of what government did, they voluntarily lowered the rate to 50 centavos,” Dureza said.

Telecommunications firms were initially mum on the SONA announcement, but on Wednesday, the three players -- SMART, Globe, and Sun Cellular -- faxed separate letters to Malacañang saying their promotions were consistent with Arroyo’s statement.

The firms also said they are open to extending the promotion, which was supposed to last only up to October, but did not say for how long.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto earlier said the Palace wants the reduced rates to be permanent.

"We hope that our SMS offer, as mentioned by the President in her State of the Nation Address, will be of help. In this regard, we may extend the duration of the promo with the approval of the NTC," according to lawyer Froilan Castelo, head for regulatory affairs of Globe Telecom Inc.

Sun Cellular's senior vice president for legal services William Pamintuan said it would continue offering its BUDGETEXT 20 to its subscribers "even beyond the promo period."

"We stand by our corporate precepts of offering best value for money products and services to the Filipino consumers consistent with the pronouncement of Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her State of the Nation Address," Pamintuan said.

As for SMART, Ramon Isberto, the head of its public affairs said: "We support government's efforts to cushion the impact of rising prices during this period of extraordinary economic difficulties. Our new SMS offer, as cited by the President in her State of the Nation Address, is in line with that thrust. We are committed to extending theeffectivity of this offer, subject to the approval of the National Telecommunications Commission.”

The 50-percent rate cut was announced by Arroyo during her address to the joint session of Congress Monday and took effect the same day. It has been approved for implementation for three months by the NTC, said deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo.

Critics have said that the President didn't say anything new because what she announced was in fact a promotion of the telcos.

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The President has always emphasized the need for goodgovernance supported by high morals and ethical standards and accordinglypursued measures to improve the bureaucracy and social services delivery; fight graft and corruption; enhance local governmentsand local governance; secure the country and the people; harness ICT; and, strengthendiplomatic relations with other nations.

Anti-graft and corruption programs were implemented in perceived corrupt agencies; lifestyle checks of government officials and employees were conducted; and procurement processes were reformed for more transparency. The Anti-Red Tape Law 2007 held public servants liable for their respective actions and caused the reduction to half of the number of signatures, processing times, and/or transaction steps in frontline services. Instrumental in these gains is the use of ICT in government. Various programs utilizing ICT were instituted with support from the PhP4 billion e-Government Fund. Further, 99% of the 1,705 LGUs have established web presence by 29 January 2009 enabling the LGUs to easily disseminate information to their constituents and improve their systems and procedures as some websites allowed online transactions.

Privatization of agencies that are deemed as inefficient was implemented to improve the delivery of services to the public. Through the National Government’s Privatization Program, the government has generated an accumulated gross revenue of PhP182.3 billion from 2001-2008.

Cognizant that peace and progress go hand-in-hand, the peace process did not end with the use of arms but emphasized rather, the Social Integration Program (SIP) and the rehabilitation of Mindanao. The government also shifted to the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration paradigm in the pursuit of peace talks while focusing on authentic dialogues with the broadest base of stakeholders’ groups.

Faced with challenges of energizing a feeble economy in 2001, the Arroyo Administration embarked on bold fiscal and economic reforms. The result was an increase in national output and productivity as real gross domestic product (GDP) grew from a low of 1.8% in 2001 to a 31-year high of 7.1% in 2007. A bonus gain from these measures was the tougher Philippine economy that faced the global economic crisis, showing a still positive GDP growth at 3.8% i 2008.

Improved investor confidence translated to increasedemployment rates from about 89% in January 2001 to 92.5% in April 2009.Further, the investment climate created by the Arroyo Administration resulted in the 7-year steady growth of net foreign direct investments (FDI) from US$195 million in 2001 to US$2.9 billion in 2007. Even in 2008, despite investors’ risk aversion, the country managed to post cumulative net FDI inflows amounting to US$1.5 billion. A record-high deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) was seen in 2008 as almost 1.4 million land- and sea-based OFWs went to work and remitted into the country an equally record-breaking total of $16.43 billion, almost 10% of the current GDP or 8.8% of the current GNP.

With aggressive and focused trade promotion since 2001, exports grew by 57% from US$32.15 billion in 2001 to US$50.47 billion in 2007. Exports slowed dow in 2008 by 2.8% to PhP49 billion as demand weakened due to the global economic crisis. In quick response, a PhP1 billion Export Support Fund (ESF) was pooled for supplemental financing to projects identified with high potentials to promote growth and create jobs. Imports, on the other hand, posted a 68% growth from US$33 billion in 2001 to $55.5 billion in 2007 and by 2.2% in 2008 as the global recession started to be felt.

Despite typhoons and rising input costs, the agriculture sector managed to contribute an average of 19.21% to the GDP in 2001-2008. Tourism was a pivotal sector in keeping the Philippine economy afloat even in the midst of a global economic crisis, with the tourism industry earnings of US$4.89 billion in 2007 alone. The information and communication technology (ICT) sector emerged as a major industry as it generated a gross US$17.934 billion in 2004-2008. A 57.95% self-sufficiency strength was primed by the energy sector. For faster, easier and cheaper travel and movement, key infrastructure, throughout the country were built and/or improved.

The Arroyo Administration pursued asset reform programs to push for countryside development and correct economic and social inequities, for instance, in accessing shelter and land. From 2001-1st Quarter 2009, a total of 1,794,568 hectares of private and government owned lands and public alienable and disposable lands were distributed. A total of 107 Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) were approved from 2002 to March 2009 covering 2.7 million hectares that benefited 640,987 IPs; and, 204 Certificate of Ancestral Land Titles (CALTs), covering 8,049.2491 hectares and benefiting 4,450 Right Holders.

Employment rates significantly improved year to year during the Arroyo watch, reaching an all time high in 2007 at 94% while unemployment was at its lowest at 6% in October of that year. As of 1st Quarter 2009, theemployment rate remains high at 92.5% despite continuing global economic woes.

With increased budgets for education from just PhP114.6 billion in 2002 to PhP185.2 billion in 2009, the sector posted notable achievements. Some of the major initiatives for the sector are the provision from 2001 to June 2009 of scholarships and related educational assistance to an aggregate total of about 11.9 million grantees/beneficiaries in the high school, technical-vocational, and higher education levels; creation of more than 60,000 new teacher items from 2001 to 2008; construction of 95,337 classrooms in public schools, thereby surpassing the yearly target of 6,000 classrooms since 2001; and, the procurement and delivery of over 135.6 million copies of books and teacher manuals for a 1:1 student-book ratio across 18 subjects. These initiatives led to more students staying in schools, drop-out rates lessened, and test results of the National Achievement Tests in elementary and high school levels began to improve overall starting SY 2005-06.

The PhilHealth Program expanded its coverage to around 79.56 million Filipinos, or 86.48% of the 92 million total population. To facilitate access to quality medicines and health services, the President signed the Cheaper Medicines Law in 2008 and the government upgraded/repaired 69 hospitals, 118 Barangay Health Stations, 36 Rural Health Stations and 170 Level I hospitals.

Since 2001, nearly a million families have benefited from the Administration’s “shelter and secure tenure programs” -- an unprecedented accomplishment in the housing sector.

The Administration embarked on a massive conditional cash transfer (CCT) program through the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). With a budget of PhP10 billion in 2009, around 687,509 poor households nationwide are being provided assistance, on the condition that beneficiaries meet certain requirements, such as children’s attendance to school and vaccination and mothers’ regular check-up at health centers. The President has asked Congress to institutionalize the 4Ps through a law, to bolster the program’s effectiveness and widen its coverage.

The country also took on more prominent roles in the international scene to influence foreign policy in favor of national interest as well as deepened engagement with the international community through official and working visits of the President in various countries. These resulted in more trade and investments, jobs, development assistanceand other trade arrangements, including the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). The Administration was also active in protecting the rights and interests of Filipino overseas.

You may also visit my site @ http://deshai08.blogspot.com/

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I have read the full text of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) which happened last July 27, 2009. Among the concerns of the Philippine government, I have noticed some points associated with information and communications technology (ICT) (which I think, should be one of my concerns, too, since I am a student of the same field), and here are some of them:

“Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT.”

- Finally, the president made the urge to have a government sector that will take charge or concentrate on the country’s issues related to information and communications technology. In spite of the fact that we belong in third-world countries, we should not be limiting ourselves to reach the modernity and latest trends of technology that various countries around the world are using. If we could be competent in this field then it wouldn’t be hard on our part to use its benefits to our advantage. I am also glad that our nation’s economy is moving through business process outsourcing (BPO) which also helped many Filipinos acquire jobs here and abroad. This will aid unemployed people find jobs and eventually earn money to provide for their basic needs. In this case, BPO gives large opportunity especially for those new graduates who are venturing for some job vacancy. This means that we also have the skills and competitiveness that most foreign business companies are looking.

- This is really one of the many things that greatly affect the mass of people especially in everyday life. Almost every Filipino, rich or poor, uses mobile phones as a means of communication. And almost everyone has (pretty sure!) experienced times when cellphone loads were stolen unexpectedly even it is not normally spent by the user. Most people say this is primarily due to cellphone promos or value-added services being offered by other companies. The telecommunication networks are most likely to be blamed since they are the ones which distribute cellphone loads. Fortunately, the government has found ways to prevent this further. Now the expiry dates of load amounts are being extended. And I’m pretty sure that most number of people will benefit from this. More and more users will have less worry on their load expiries and stolen load balance, thus making communication with their loved ones be it near or far, local or abroad, possible. That’s information traveled through communication devices.

“As a country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific Rim of Fire, we must be prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible…the mapping of flood- and landslide-prone areas is almost complete. Early warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved, with weather tracking facilities in Subic, Tagaytay, Mactan, Mindanao, Pampanga.”

Definitely, the use of technology can be applied to forecast or monitor incoming typhoon signals, and the development of mapping systems in calamity-prone areas in the country. If we study the latest technology and its applications, we can surely benefit from it. I’m glad the government is now improving weather tracking facilities in some parts of the country. I hope in the near future, all cities will be able to have more improved and hi-tech weather tracking devices. As we can see, the Philippines is near the location where most intertropical convergence zone is created. Roughly speaking, if there are trade winds borne out of these zones, and may build up as typhoons, some areas have higher possibility of being hit by storms. Additionally, as what most seismologists would say that the technology that may be able to detect incoming earthquakes is not yet fully developed but is now being continually studied by experts. If and then we will be given the chance to have the latest technology for early warning devices, the top on the list who will benefit are those who live in calamity-prone areas including the local government units and also the experts who will study the changes of weather in the country and its possible aftershocks.

“As the seeds of fundamental political reform are planted, let us address the highest exercise of democracy, voting! In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.”

-Finally, we will now have the chance of using technology to a mission-critical situation like elections. Not only we will use the benefits brought by its applications but it will also bridge the gap from those in the rural to urban areas. This would make a big step towards digital advancement. I am glad that it would finally take effect this coming 2010 elections (hopefully, for the first time in Philippine history). I just hope that the automation of the elections will not bring much fraud as what happens during our previous ones. (You can read more of my thoughts about election automation in http://charmainespeaksup.blogspot.com/2009/07/thoughts-about-automated-elections.html. Feel free to comment on it. Thanks anyway for the dudes who dropped their reactions to my post..)

For a country to be successful, it needs not only the good governance of the administration, but every cooperation and concern of its people.

The 2009 State of the Nation Address (SONA) is outlined in six (6) focal points along the President’s vision since her assumption of the Presidency in 2001, including her goals as stated in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) and her Ten-Point Agenda for beating the odds.

As I read the full text of PGMA State of the Nation Address (SONA) which happened last July 27, 2009. In her SONA, I identify 3 areas related to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and how these areas can improve our quality of life.

•Removed barriers and allow full competition in the provision of high-speed networks and connectivity. This resulted in the reduction of cost of local internet connections from PhP30 per hour in 2000 to PhP15 per hour in 2008. •Allocated radio frequencies to allow broadband wireless access network. •Liberalized the telecommunications environment/ industry to allow the entry of more players, ie, the telecommunication operators (TelCos). •This enabled the mobile telephone industry to experience robust growth. About 62% of the total populace (or about 56 million out of the 88 million Filipinos) are now mobile telephone subscribers who are connected to 14,506 cell sites, nationwide, as of end of 2008. To date, there are 11 international gateway facility (IGF) operators who can provide international long distance calls; six (6) cellular mobile telephone system operators; 11 public trunk radio operators; 14 inter-exchange carrier licenses that service other carriers’ traffic using their own networks; and, 74 local exchange operators or those with fixed line services. •Authorized the retail-pricing for local telephone lines by allowing local exchange carriers to design price packages.

Second:

Business Process Outsourcing “Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient.”

The Philippine Business Process Outsourcing sector caters to varied support services functions. The rise of Animation, Software Development and Medical Transcription in 2003 became an addition to promising BPO investments that were portrayed in the succeeding years. It marked the rise of digital servicing, niche service operations and marketing using information technology. Later on, outsourcing services were popularized in the following support service functions, namely: (1) Human Resources such as recruitment and payroll; (2) Customer Service and helpdesk functions; (3) Procurement and materials management; (4) proof reading and editing; and (5) layout and design. Among the top contact centers in the country are Sykes, Convergys, Ambergis, and People Support. Some of the companies that have set-up internal BPO operations in the country include HSBC, AIG Business Processing Services, Chevron Texaco, Procter and Gamble Asia Pt. Ltd., Shell Shared Services, among others.

Third:Automated Elections“As the seeds of fundamental political reform are planted, let us address the highest exercise of democracy -- voting! In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress..”

The Administration supports the modernization of the electoral system to ensure the credibility of the polls. It promotes solid traits among candidates such as deportment, simple and dignified lifestyle, and readiness to act rather than grandstand. With the support of Congress, the President signed into law RA 9369 s. 2007, the Amended Automated Elections Law prescribing full automation of the national-local elections on 10 May 2010. Subsequently, the amount of PhP11.3 billion as supplemental budget was appropriated for automated elections through the RA 9525 which the President signed into law in March 2009. The DBM has already released to COMELEC on 30 April 2009 the SARO containing the said amount.

To date, COMELEC has completed the bidding for the procurement of more than 80,000 machines for the Precinct Counting Optical Scan (PCOS).

On July 27, 2009, our President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave her annual State of the Nation address or better known as SONA 2009.

Information about SONA

The State of the Nation Address Filipino: Talumpati sa Kalagayan ng Bansa, abbreviated SONA) is an annual event here in the Republic of the Philippines, in which the President of the Philippinesreports on the status of the nation, normally to the resumption of a joint session of the Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate). This is a duty of the President as stated in Article VII, Section 23 of the 1987 Constitution: “ The President shall address the Congress at the opening of its regular session. He may also appear before it at any other time.”

These are the areas related to ICT that was stated by our President Arroyo during her SONA:

1. Education for all

Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another through institutions.

Education is central to development and a key to attaining the Millennium Development Goals. It is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality and lays a foundation for sustained economic growth.• Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

• Ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, those in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.

• Ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programs.

• Achieve a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

• Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieve gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.

• Improve all aspects of the quality of education and ensure excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.

2. Automated electionsTo ensure a credible and transparent electoral process, the modernization of the electoral system through computerization shall be supported to ensure the credibility of polls and correct the deficiencies in the electoral system. Likewise, the Omnibus Election Code shall be further revised and amended to respond to the needs of the present electoral system.A system using appropriate technology for voting and electronic devices to count votes and canvass/consolidate results.

3. Transportation and digital infrastructureTo ensure that the future Internet infrastructure develops in a way that maximizes the democratic potential of the Net and encourages a decentralized, open architecture.The basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the functioning of a community or society, such as transportation and communications systems, water and power lines, and public institutions including schools, post offices, and prisons.

The ninth and the last STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for 2009 was delivered at the joint session of the Congress of the Philippines on July 27, 2009.

“Some say that after this SONA, it will be all politics. Sorry, but there’s more work.”, the president.

Why not? Anyway I am to stand as a student and a citizen that would support my leader as long as she thinks for the betterment of her fellowmen. Well, now that I am to identify at least 3 areas related to ICT in the delivered SONA and how these areas can improve our quality of life, leave all those politics issues hanging!

This is my outlook:

ICT Department

“Let us have a Department of ICT.” She proclaimed.

Some are criticizing about it for they think of the additional budget allotment but, in her 9th State of the Nation Address, Mrs. Arroyo cited the role of the BPO and tourism sectors as engines of growth in the country. BPO Business process outsourcing or BPO is an emerging industry in the Philippines. The most common BPO services here in the country are call centers.

It is noted that while electronics and other export products rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy, the BPO sector has remained flexible and continues to grow.

Apparently, it provides millions of earnings and employment as well. If fortunately, honoring the implementation of the said department would lead to more opportunities for the Filipinos.

The government has always seen a need for focused leadership in the implementation of ICT policy in the country. In the year 2000, President Joseph Estrada formed the Information Technology and E-Commerce Council, which merged the powers and functions of the National Information Technology Council and the Electronic Commerce Promotion Council. Four years later, President Gloria Arroyo would abolish ITECC and create the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), which is headed by Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III now.

Under Executive Order 269, which created CICT, the Commission would not just be advisory in nature but will have a more active role in implementing the various ICT-related plans and policies of government. The Commission also handles government initiatives to development more IT proficient workers in the country, improvement of government IT services and bringing more Filipinos closer to technology. (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/technology/07/27/09/arroyo-oks-creation-ict-department)

In fact, Senator Edgardo J. Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, expressed his support for a bill seeking to establish the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

This would be gladly appreciated sooner especially we are looking for an automated election in the near next year that will probably a concern of this department.Infrastructure

On her claimed that The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway is a prime example of building better roads. It creates wealth as the flagship of the Subic-Clark corridor.

We have built airports of international standard, upgraded domestic airports, built seaports and the roll on/roll off transport system.

Flying is an inherently stressful experience especially for those tourists that are opt to unwind here in the country. Thus, we are to serve them with good amenities for them to go back and award money on the other way.

Airports are the first things that tourists see in their arrivals, so let us grant the president a credit for efforts made in infrastructure such as mention above. Tourist means money, the more they are, the more investments and job employments for us.

Education

Government scholars and the plan to increase college to five years; two pre-university and three professional years.

Additional years will definitely additional expense. But can you imagine how upset it is when we do provide more graduates but inadequate one?

Just for an instance, IT professionals are greatly in demand for there are estimated millions of jobs waits for them however only thousands were produced yet, others are not fit for there task.

The edge of monitoring the performance of the universities that produces new graduates would mean strengthening the quality education provided to innovative professionals.

“We have built airports of international standard, upgraded domestic airports,Built seaports and the Roll-on/Roll-off System. I ask Congress for a PhilippineTransport Security Law..”

Opinions: This would give easier transportation's in every citizen in the country. The implemented project of President Arroyo was indeed contribute a sudden change in transporting products and even transporting our own self. The built international airports standard boost our confident to travel without any hesitations.

Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are vessels designed to carry wheeled cargo such as automobiles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers or railroad cars that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels. This is in contrast to lo-lo (lift on-lift off) vessels which use a crane to load and unload cargo. While the characteristics of seagoing RORO car ferries have inherent risks, there are benefits to its seaworthiness.

Banking System

“To that end, we improved our banking system to complement its inherentConservatism. The Bangko Sentral has been prudent. Thank you, GovernorTetangco, being so effective. The BSP will be even more effectiveIf Congress will amend its Charter..”

Opinions: In dealing with improving the bank system in the Philippines, we guarantee that it is more accurate and appropriate to use by. This would help million of Filipinos in complementing their inherent conservatism. Through improving the system of many companies here in the country, we are to take a big step towards global competition in the field of Information Technology. This would not help us feel better but as well us to be more confident about the saving of money of the country.

They were more efficient in certain banking aspects such as money transfers and current accounts, and borrowing loans and opening saving deposits. Banks adopt several means of acquiring assets or financing projects and these can be categorized in three areas: investment, trade and lending.

Automated Electronic System

“As the seeds of fundamental political reform are planted, let us address thehighest exercise of democracy -- voting! In 2001, I said we would finance fullyautomated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress..”

Opinions: Well, basically automated elections are more convenient compare to manually done. They get a tally immediately, rather than having to count votes by hand. Philippine election officials can learn how to run automated elections properly. Primarily by designing election machines that make sense to the average Filipino voter, and relying on the results of sustained testing for any necessary revisions to the system. Automated voting (sometimes referred to as electronic or e-voting) technologies are increasingly used in elections across the world, particularly because they are often seen as symbolic of a country’s level of modernization.

The possibilities for rapid aggregation and analysis of results, as well as potentially greater accuracy, have all added to the attractiveness of computer-based voting equipment. There is little doubt that the ability to quickly publish results can be of particular advantage in conflict and post-conflict scenarios, where a prolonged period of counting can heighten tensions and reduce confidence in the final results. The potential to remove some traditional elements of unintentional voter error or intentional fraud can also contribute to greater confidence

"Assuming" I had heard the State of the Nation Address of President Arroyo.LOL Here are some quoted statements I picked up after reading the State of the Nation address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last July of 2009 that relates to ICT.

Quoted by her excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, this statement is my favorite. Haha. This issue is familiar to me for I am also a phone user just like almost everyone of us. Today almost everyone uses cell phones as a primary means of communication. The problem here is the issue of vanishing cell phone loads. Telecommunication companies do have great deal of promos for their users benefit, they have unlimited calls and text but then problems occur when loads suddenly vanishes and expires ahead of time. It is a good idea of giving priority to this issue because communication is important for people nowadays specially those who have contacts in far places.

“Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT....”

Let us define first BPO. This is the definition I got from Wikipedia. Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a form of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing

It would be a great idea of having a department that concerns Information Technology related activities. We all know that IT plays an important role in our everyday life and it would be great if there is a government department that deals with issues regarding IT. Outsourcing is also a good step of the president because this will allow those who don’t have a job to have one by outsourcing.

“As the process of fundamental political reform begins, let us address the highest exercise of democracy...voting! In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.... “

Wew! automated election. I totally agree of having automated elections but I think this would be done step by step as what I have said on the other assignment regarding automated elections. As a democratic country everyone should participate in choosing who they want to lead the country and this is done through elections. The problem is not everyone knows how to read and write so manual elections could not well address to democracy. But having automated elections, it would be easier to vote and this will help those who are illiterate to choose freely who they want to lead the country.

Blog link for this posthttp://xiibee.blogspot.com/2009/08/presidents-sona-on-ict-assuming-i-had.html

This statement talks about vanishing cellphone loads in telecommunication companies. We all know that cellphone now a days are very essential in our daily needs especially the way we communicate. Using cellphones is the best and faster way in communicating. Me as a cellphone user it is essential for me to have a load in order for me to have contact with my family, friends, and etc., so having these issues such as vanishing of loads and dropped calls is a problem that needs to be solved.

The second one is:

“Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT.”

Having a Department of ICT is a great move in the part of our economy, because it can help us in boosting our economic growth using all the technology in hand despite being a third-world country. And also Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) which help our fellow Filipino workers in having jobs abroad aiding the unemployed ones.

Also free training for our fellow Filipinos in order to have jobs for sustaining there own family. One example is technical education such as medical transcription which is using technology in converting voice-recorded reports as dictated by a healthcare professional, into text format. If more people are trained it can also help unemployed one plus gaining enough money for there needs.

And lastly,

“As the process of fundamental political reform begins, let us address the highest exercise of democracy…voting!In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.”

Having an automated election is a good way of preventing if not maybe lessens cheats in elections. As we all know cheating is part of Philippine politics so this is a good way of preventing at least. It can also make election process fast and easy having results faster. So let me give this one two-thumb up.

Last July 29, 2009, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had her 9th State of the Nation Address during the 3rd Joint Regular Session of the 14th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines at the Session Hall of the Batasang Pambansa at Quezon City. SONA (State Of the Nation Address) is important because this is the time wherein the president would tackle or discuss to the mass all the achievements which he or she has done. This 2009 was the last SONA of the President Gloria Arroyo in which she commemorate most because this is the last term of her administration.

The 9th State of the Nation Address of President Gloria was attended by many celebrities in the political discipline. Senate President Enrile, Speaker Nograles, Senators, Vice President de Castro, Former President Ramos, Chief Justice Puno, and the other congressmen and ambassadors were present during that SONA. President Gloria M. Arroyo carved up to the crowd what she did last 2008. In her speech, many achievements she shared especially the infrastructures in those remote areas in the country. The million jobs also in which she gave scholarships to the Filipino people in which they can go to some TESDA accredited school to study some vocational qualifications or courses so that after they went to the training, they can have the National Certificates Level II in the discipline of butchering, bartending, computer maintenance and so on.

Mrs. Arroyo also talked about some issues regarding in the field of ICT. To start with:

In this first issue, it is so very nkaka-irita that when you have cellphone load worth of 30 pesos then some networks would send you some nonsense messages such in Smart, they will send some promos in which you did not subscribe that promo. It is necessary that NTC should made some actions in which the sumbong of the people will be heard so that this telecommunication companies will know what are their mistakes.

2.) Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT.

This second issue talks about BPO and tourism sectors in which they contributed more to the economy's wealth. It is necessary to have a Department of ICT so that it will oversees to the small and medium BPOs in which it aligns to the field of electronics and other services which is related to ICT to guide and help them in some financial matters and how for them to export more their products. Due to their earnings, all I can say is, let should have a DICT.

In this last issue it talks about two fields, these are: the field of education and and the field of ICT. It is good that President Arroyo made some programs in which it helps to the can't afford Filipinos to attend in schools to have some diplomas and certificates after they graduated to their chosen field. The Arroyo administration together with the cooperation of the TESDA (Technical Education Skills and Development Authority) made the Pangulong Gloria Scholarships or PGS in which they can choose any qualifications they want such as computer maintenance, bartending, housekeeping, welding, medical transcriptioning and etc.. Because of these qualifications offered by the PGS, you may work as an independent contractor and lecturer in any ICT related fields. Just like Jennifer Silbor, she finished the qualification of medical transcription in which she is also a scholar of PGS and because of this, she earned almost P18,000 every month. Whew! What a big amount. Well, just like me, I am a scholar of PGS last summer in the qualification of computer maintenance. It it still related in ICT. I passed also my NC II and because of that, I can earn money and at the same time, I am a student. Congratulations to Jennifer and Me. hehehe

SONA is not all about pagmamayabang of the president. These are all the efforts she made even though she was criticized by many people. Well, all I can say is, let's see what will the next president can do better than this president.

1. Creation of a Department of Information and Communication Technology.

The creation of this department will greatly help the sector of information and communication technology (ICT). The Filipino information specialists like the Filipino programmers, software developers, software engineers, computer scientists, and software analysts will benefit to this program of government. I am sure that agenda of this department will be the professionalization of computer programming. The professionalization of programming makes Filipino IT professionals to increase their knowledge, skills and experience in new programming languages, software project management techniques, and application frameworks that is required to produce quality computer softwares and programs. And these computer softwares and programs developed by Filipino IT professionals will improve the quality of life of Filipino people very soon.

2. The Resiliency of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in the midst of the Global Financial Crisis.

This industry has employed many Filipinos as call center agents and call customer service representatives have become more and more popular. These jobs have good salary and compensation and this will give a greater help and ease for the poor family of the Filipino workers. And, our government tries and continues to support and improve this industry of information and communication technology.

3. Amendment of the Public Service Law which governs the Telecommunications Industry.

The amendment of this law will strengthen the consumers’ rights to good and right services especially to telecommunication companies like Smart and Globe. These corporations abused the Filipino consumers by stealing the load of celfone users who subscribe to their network services and by rendering poor services in the form of dropped calls and short period of validity time of load. I am favor of this amendment which should be one of the priority amendments of congress to stop the unscrupulous conduct of these telecom giants.

4. The Main Education Highway towards a Knowledge-Based Economy launched by The Presidential Task Force on Education.

This endeavor will further boost the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) environment in the country. The technical education and skills trainings of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will employ much Filipino people in BPO industry. Courses like computer servicing and maintenance and medical transcription as well as trainings in call center agent and customer service representative are offered in this government institution in a very affordable tuition fee. This program of government also envisions seamless education from basic to vocational school or college. On the other hand, our educational system should make the Filipino fit not just for whatever jobs happen to be on offer today, but also for whatever economic challenge life will throw in their way. And this educational system should alleviate our poor Filipino family from poverty and hardship.

My Blog: jhunix1@BLogspot

Programming is my passion.

Last edited by felix a. sumalinog jr. on Mon Aug 24, 2009 1:31 pm; edited 7 times in total

In the recent State of the Nation Address of Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, some portion of her speech was note worth noting. Some of those worth noting issues tackled the recent SONA was her take on Information and Communication Technology.

Good for the president that she was able to tackle a bit form this issue on her SONA. There has been a million people with access on mobile technology discussing and appealing their concerns and complains regarding this issue. The main issue was on a sudden load deduction without service being availed or used by the user. This problem was quite a big deal for the people hence, almost all the Filipino has an access and on the use of mobile technology. As far as the development of this issue is concern, the congress had made the action to investigate this issue with the telecommunications company. To date, the bill was made into reality; it is clear then with Telecommunications Company and to the people how there services will cope up and respond to thetrend of the issue.

2. “Let us have a Department of ICT”

This means initiating another department which is Department of Information and Communication Technology that would take the chance to hold on the concerns with regards to ICT that associate’s additional growth engines. For me, it is good for a government to initiate this certain department because issues and concerns with ICT will be centralized and to that there will be an immediate organization that will respond to the issues.

3. “Today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity.”

BPO is distinct from information technology (IT) outsourcing, which focuses on hiring a third-party company or service provider to do IT-related activities, such as application management and application development, data center operations, or testing and quality assurance. Frequently, BPO is also referred to as ITES -- information technology-enabled services. Since most business processes include some form of automation, IT n"enables" these services to be performed.

Activities that can be outsourced are seen as a cost-saving measure for the company. Payroll and call center operations are long considered as the main contributors to BPO but lately, the trend in outsourcing has moved a notch higher towards skill quality and competence. Here, legal services, software development and web designing, animation, medical transcription and shared services are now being outsourced as well. What this means to the Philippines is that this shift will contribute to strengthening the country's position as an emerging global leader in the BPO industry. This can be a resilient plan of the government in case of sudden negative break in the economy, moreover it helps the unemployment rate in the Philippines to decline hence, and outsourced services are really generating additional employment in the country.

The ninth and the last STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS OF President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for 2009 was delivered at the joint session of the Congress of the Philippines on July 27, 2009.

The SONA can be summarized into her accomplishments despite the criticisms and her challenges to the presidential wannabes.

Since this is her last term, instead of her scorecard for one year, she enumerated thelong term projects that she started, inherited and finished her during the term together with the policies that she implemented concerning education, environment and economy.

These are important developments because whoever will become the leader next year will be inheriting the benefits or the problems brought by GMA’s legacy.

She did complain that her popularity was low because of the decisions that she had to adopt despite its being a bitter pill for Filipinos.

In closing, she expressed her belief on the resilience and unity of the Filipinos to weather the storms that may come by in our shores.

I feel that she had done her best fighting the critics as well as her political adversaries and at the same time trying to lead a country so divided as many as political parties there are and hopeful heirs to the throne that speculations about her perpetuating her power are like ghosts that haunt them until she has really step down.

there are some areas related to ICT.

Information and Communication Technology Department

>>ICT dept. will help a lot for the improvement of the Filipinos quality of life. From the word itself, Information and Communication, it will help in processing and managing the information system of our country as well as the communications system. In having an ICT department the process of information nationwide will be monitored. It involves the resolution of the risks associated in processing information, the information that will use for government purposes. The data that is gathered by the municipalities that helps the Local Government Unit for documentation of necessary data needed to certify a citizen in their localities. And even for the government to know the exact population of each of the municipalities.

The ICT department will also help the local government offices to do their work easier just like collecting taxes, documenting personal information of the citizens and etc. not only the process of information will be monitored, but also in the communication. It helps the Filipino to save money in terms of buying loads, because it will lessen the times the loads are being missing in action and lessen the times that the calls will be dropped. With these, the quality of life of the Filipinos will be improved because it will lessen the hassle in communication more importantly in the business industry. In having ICT department it will help the economy will be uplifted.

BPO

>>Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a form of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain.[1]. In the contemporary context, it is primarily used to refer to the outsourcing of services.

BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as contact center services.

BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.

Automated Election

>>Having the automated election has advantage and disadvantages. One of its advantages is that the electing of candidate will become easier. And also the counting of votes will last only for 3-5 days unlike before; people spend couple of minutes in writing candidates name in ballots. Counting of votes lasts for couple of weeks. And the government spends lot of money in buying new ballot boxes, and even paying people to count votes. Another advantage is that whenever someone will call for a recount the comelec can easily show results of their counting because having automated election includes proper documentation it can also view or show in what area or localities is a candidate cast many votes.

-From the previous SONA, the President also mentioned about this technical education and skills training that the Malacañang have been working on. Let’s accept the fact that not all people are given the chance to study much higher education in Colleges and University. So with this technical education and skills training they are offering, a lot of unprivileged people will be having a chance to prove their selves. These programs is very applicable especially to those out of school youth. Not to underestimate them, but I think through these programs, a lot of them would have great opportunities. To have a job and earn much enable them to help their families. Even though they are not a degree holder, still equal chance are given, especially to those highly skilled people such as Jennifer, a medical transcriptionist of Davao City.

“Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT.”

-This is such a great news to us, to have a Department of Information and Communications Technology. Thus, recognizing the great potential of ICT to create wealth for the country and the need to form a permanent entity that would promote the utilization of information and communications technology, and effectively coordinate and implement national and local ICT services. Department of Information and Communications Technology is important ,"For instance, the Digital Village project which will enable rural farmers to use the Internet to access information on prices of goods, land records, weather forecasts, local government database and other agricultural knowledge support - thereby boosting their agriculture productivity - has been dragging on for years. This is largely due to the lack of coordination among agencies with ICT functions," Sen. Ed Angara said in an interview. As stated, ICT is one of the frontier fields that will dominate the world - how we work, study and conduct business. That’s why it is such a great lost for us if we will be left out in the field of ICT. Since BPO have been mentioned on President’s SONA, a lot of hope for the people have been opened. Especially, to the people who are unemployed right now. Great chances are given by developing BPO’s and tourism sectors in the country. Business process outsourcing enhances the flexibility of an organization in different ways. Thus, helping a lot of Filipinos obtained job here and abroad.

-I think this one was once such an irritating problem especially for many cellular phone users. If the government could have a quick solution with this, there will no longer complaints about stolen load. As for today, Philippines is one of the most populated Cellular phone users. Used as means of communication, whether rich or poor, are using mobile phones. If cellphone loads are always stolen, it will become harder for the people to communicate. So this is a right track for the government to amend a new law about this matter. Helping people to have a clear communication with their loved ones, no matter how far.

Again, I just hope that all these things are properly implemented in order to bring improvement in every Filipinos life.

My Opinions: Same as what the President say we need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law to fit the law in a present situation. The National Telecommunication Commission should impose the law strictly, so that the Telecommunication Companies would not abuse. The Congress should pass a law giving the consumer a safeguard that gives them the best service to the public.

2.) "Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT...."

My Opinions: To improve the life of a Filipino people by way of BPO the government should focused the education system of our country. First, improve the quality of education by giving the teachers a good training and tools for them to teach the student a quality education. We should lessen the commercialization of our educational system. Second, for those who are student that are not capable in studies but have a special talent and skills, the government should give them scholarship. And lastly, the government should invite business investment who gives adequate benefits and salaries.

3.) "As the process of fundamental political reform begins, let us address the highest exercise of democracy...voting! In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.... "

My Opinions: For me, it has a big help on the part of the government like the following factors:

- Lesser expenses to be incurred due to decrease of manpower during the election.- To ease the tension of suspension of cheating of both parties.- It has a big possibility to have an accurate results of the election.

By those factors I mentioned I can assure that by this new system of election or by using this new technology on 2010 election the people are expecting of a good and fair results.

he National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is the government agency created under Executive Order No. 546 promulgated on July 23, 1979, and conferred with regulatory and quasi-judicial functions taken over from the Board of Communications and the Telecommunications Control Bureau which were abolished in the same Order.

his Study has been published for those companies requiring an in-depth report describing the current state of the telecommunications industry in the Philippines.

The country’s telecom industry is rather unusual – for a developing country – for two reasons. First, its regulation is extremely liberal and, second, in some respects there is a surfeit of telecom infrastructure. The regulatory regime is weak to the point of being ineffectual, while the fixed line infrastructure is severely under-utilised and a great deal of investment is going to waste.

The country is renowned for its use of texting (i.e. short messaging services, or SMS), leading the world in the adoption of this particular technology. SMS services have driven the rapid growth of the country’s mobile sector over the past five years.

Other segments of the telecom industry have less dynamism. Use of the Internet, e-commerce and broadband services are still at an early stage. More advanced developments, such as 3G services, are only just being introduced.

The Philippines is one of the less developed telecom markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Having said that, and given the population size, opportunities for first-movers with appropriate products are considerable. If the country continues to develop economically, and political unrest is avoided, the Philippines could prove to be a rewarding country for long term investments.

2.CREATION OF DICT (DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY) "Pres. Gloria Arroyo on Monday made a final push for the creation of DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) in her last State of the Nation Address (Sona). Let us have a Department of ICT. Philippines is now starting to create wealth with the development of the BPO industry as an engine of growth".

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a form of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain.[1]. In the contemporary context, it is primarily used to refer to the outsourcing of services.

BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as contact center services.

BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.

3. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector -“In the past if the electronics sector grew, today we’re creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth,” Macapagal-Arroyo said. “Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall with the state of the world economy but BPO remains resilient.”

- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is ushering the economy into a sustained growth as it is projected to employ close to one million and post 13 billion dollars revenue by next year.In an interview over CNBC’s Closing Bell program hosted by noted business anchor Maria Bartiromo, President Arroyo said that the BPO sector, among other industries, has exhibited a stunning performance and must have been helping enable the country to effectively manage the global financial crisis that has been hounding many countries.There are a number of industries that nobody ever thought before would become drivers of growth, for instance, the business process outsourcing industry.

VISION

To be the department of Excellence for e-ManagementMISSION

To propagate and promote e-management for knowledge workers of RIM to enhance internal capacity and of Bhutanese organizations to institutionalize e-governance

BACKGROUND

This department was formally known as the Department for Information Technology (DICT) and focuses mainly on the design and delivery of IT training programs of the Institute. Besides offering a regular 2-Year Diploma course in Information Management Systems the department offers various IT/IS related courses at advanced level for in-service personnel, consultancy services and its expertise as and when required to different agency.

One of the major functions of the department is to plan and build IT capability of the Institute both in terms of human resources and infrastructure development. The department has been ardently involved in promoting and educating the Bhutanese in the field of computing and information technology. The programs of the department intervene at various levels of courses for Diploma Course for System developers and programmers, short tailor- made courses for in-service IT personnel, IT Awareness Workshops for executives as well as for mid-level managers from both Government and Private Sector. The department also facilitates, through certified instructors, the Cisco Networking Academy Program, which offers online curriculum and assessment for those interested in electronic networking. In addition to delivering joint IT courses with client organizations, the department plays crucial role in keeping in-house members informed and aware of new technologies and providing training sessions on their usage.

The DICT aims to equip the Institute with the state-of-the-art technology and be able to design and provide need-based IT training programs for the Bhutanese knowledge worker.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To strengthen the IT infrastructure and systems of RIM and its department 2. To provide IT training for public, private and civil society organizations at advanced level 3. Research and develop case study papers 4. To develop distance/online education capability through the use of reliable information technology and facilities.

It can really help us, if there will be a law for that matter, losing of load is not good because even the amount is just small or big there'll be an impact to us, as a user. We are using this technology to communicate our loveones, to text them or to call them up so that even they are far away but still they have a close family ties. Not only in the family matter but also in business transaction or even at school it's very useful then, if ever a user is expecting that he/she has a load when he is in need but he/she could not reply because of stealing its load, so the result is he/she lost not only the load and also the opportunities in his/her life. I always remember this saying when I hear this related topic, "opportunities knocks only once".

2.)“As the process of fundamental political reform begins, let us address the highest exercise of democracy…voting!In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.”

As of before, we didn't try the automated election but now my point now is, if ever this matter could be successful well of course I'm glad. But we all know in every thing you do there will be its possible consequences and since, I am an IT student I would prefer to use this machine because it can help a lot of people. For instance, one of its advantages is more faster than the manual election, more efficient and low-cost of funds in terms of the salaries to its employers. Most especially, the flying voters can be lessen.

In this ICT related area with in the school premises, its very useful to us students to have more efficient technology, so that we can easily be trained ourselves particularly our skills. With the age of new technology nowadays its importance that even a single step we'll be aware of using such equipments.

Even though, all that I have been mentioning above can be expensive but also remember you can not get something when you did not invest something...or you don't have any sacrifices!So what do you think, is Pres. Arroyo deserves to a good feedback? Well, for me, yes, she deserves one...

Last July 27, 2009, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo recited her 9th State of the Nation Address (SONA), she reveal the condition and improvements of the nation for the whole year. Some of the areas related to ICT that can be identified are the following:

“Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT.”

After a long wait, the president cast her decision on the advocacy to have a Department of ICT. The construction of a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will handle the off shoring sector as well as other legislation such as cyber crime bill and the data privacy bill. The Chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III, has noted the importance of the creation of DICT since many nations are slowly vying for a piece of global outsourcing and off shoring market which means a lot of competition, the DICT enables competitiveness.

Senator Edgardo Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology supports the establishment of the DICT. "For instance, the Digital Village project which will enable rural farmers to use the Internet to access information on prices of goods, land records, weather forecasts, local government database and other agricultural knowledge support - thereby boosting their agriculture productivity - has been dragging on for years. This is largely due to the lack of coordination among agencies with ICT functions," he uttered.

More to the point, ICT is one of the frontier fields that will dominate the world - how we work, study and conduct business. It would be to our great disadvantage if we were left out in the field of ICT.

“Over the last two decades, China and India have used ICT to drive their economy and lift millions of their people out of pervasive poverty," Angara added.

Our country has been left behind in terms of technical aspects and growth. Though we constitute in the third-world country, we should not be satisfied to be in this point instead we must strive hard and find retort on how to resolve this dilemma so that we can get in touch with the latest trends of technology that most of the countries around the world are now exercising. Our people are competent but we are lacking of physical resources and support coming from the government. I’m delighted that our realm is embracing technology. With the promulgation of this department we could be competent on this field and we can benefit on its advantages.

Furthermore, the president also mentioned Business process outsourcing (BPO) which is a form of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called near shore outsourcing. Given the proximity of BPO to the information technology industry, it is also categorized as an information technology enabled service or ITES.

I am also thankful that our nation’s market is adopting business process outsourcing (BPO) which lends a hand to many Filipinos to gain jobs here and abroad. This will minister to jobless individuals to hunt for jobs and in the long run they can earn profit. Thus, BPO paves the way towards economic progress of our country.

According to Wikipedia, the BPO boom in the Philippines is currently led by demand for offshore call centers. The Philippines raked in offshore service generating revenues of $2.1 billion in 2006, placing third behind India and China and slightly ahead of Malaysia. That's up 62% over the $1.3 billion it gained in 2004, and a huge increase from the start of the decade when the outsourcing industry in Manila employed just 2,400 people and the industry had revenues of merely $24 million. It is estimated that 200,000 people are working in 120 BPO (mostly Contact Centers) in the Philippines in 2006. Overall, Philippine BPO is forecast to earn US$11 billion and employing 900,000 people by the year 2010.

Dropped call is the common term for a wireless mobile phone call that is terminated unexpectedly as a result of technical reasons, including presence in a dead zone.

One reason for a dropped call is when the mobile phone moves out of range of a wireless network. An active call cannot usually be maintained across a different company's network (as calls cannot be re-routed over the traditional phone network while in progress), resulting in the termination of the call once a signal cannot be maintained between the phone and the original network.

Another common reason is when a phone is taken into an area where wireless communication is unavailable, interrupted, interfered with, or jammed. From the network's perspective, this is the same as the mobile moving out of the coverage area.

Occasionally calls are dropped upon handoff between cells within the same provider's network. This may be due to an imbalance of traffic between the two cell sites' areas of coverage. If the new cell site is at capacity, it cannot accept the additional traffic of the call trying to "hand in." It may also be due to the network configuration not being set up properly, such that one cell site is not "aware" of the cell the phone is trying to hand off to. If the phone cannot find an alternative cell to move to that can take over the call, the call is lost.

Co-channel and Adjacent channel interference can also be responsible for dropped calls in a wireless network. Neighbour cells with the same frequencies interfere with each other, deteriorating the quality of service and producing dropped calls. Transmission problems are also a common cause of dropped calls. Another problem maybe a faulty transceiver (TRX) inside the base station.

At present, almost every Filipino, uses cellular phone as a tool for communication. It becomes a part of our necessity and it is essential in our daily routines specially in communicating other people whether it is near or far, local or abroad. Cellular phones and load are interrelated, without load we cannot connect or communicate, thus cellphone is useless without load.

Apparently, each subscriber has suffered loss of cellphone loads out of the blue and probably dropped calls which becomes a nation wide predicament that most people are complaining. The telecommunication networks provider are presumably to be held responsible since they are the distributor of cellphone loads.

Luckily, the administration has established ways to avert this problem. The NTC issued stricter rules on the drop-call rate of the telecommunication companies, or telcos, in a bid to protect consumers. In a Memorandum Order 03-06-2009, the regulator said the drop-call rate for telcos should be improved to 2 percent, or two dropped calls for every 100 calls, from 5 percent. The agency would also issue separate guidelines for the expiration of the load and pulse billing. The commission is also proposing a call rate of three seconds per pulse, from one minute charging, whether postpaid or prepaid. Currently, telcos charge on per minute basis, costing P6.50 per call.

Thus, the turmoil has been lessened to provide good quality of communication for the benefit of the Filipino people, with that it only proves that the president is not sitting but a working president.

“As a country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific Rim of Fire, we must be prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible…the mapping of flood- and landslide-prone areas is almost complete. Early warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved, with weather tracking facilities in Subic, Tagaytay, Mactan, Mindanao, Pampanga.”

Definitely, The Philippines is one of the countries recurrently stroked by natural catastrophe which greatly affects the lives of the Filipinos. As opined by Glenn Rabonza, chief of Manila’s Office of Civil Defence (OCD) that we are a hazard- and disaster-prone country simply and unfortunately because of our geographical location. We get about 20 or so typhoons a year, about seven of them potentially destructive. Local government across the country is being recommended to take the initiative and use their powers to compulsorily evacuate inhabitants during a natural calamity.

As an alternative, the government hopes to complete an updated mapping of flood and landslide prone areas. Early warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved, with at least 10 new radars installed in the typhoon-entry zones in the eastern Bicol region to alert the populace.

The government is also trying to emphasize "disaster mitigation and pre-emptive evacuation", mainly because many poor residents often ignore government warnings to leave disaster-prone areas, including riversides, slopes, hills and illegal mining operations.

With this, the use of technology can be useful to foretell incoming natural calamities. It would be beneficial especially to those individual situated in a calamity prone areas. By putting up devices more lives will be saved and the damaged cost will be lessen.